Category: Marco Polo

Today, I ran my last two lessons of the cruise (‘Puddles’). Considering the deterioration in sea conditions, I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout. Everyone seemed to enjoy the exercise, and much hilarity ensued when it came to painting in the two simple figures at the end; a very upbeat session, and a good one to finish off with. At...

Today, we’ve been at sea again. There’s been a deep swell for most of the day, making the going a little rough at times, but nothing we can’t handle. I ran my penultimate classes this afternoon (Seaspray and Sandpaper), which were well attended, and the pile of paintings for our exhibition on Monday is growing. Everybody’s fingers and toes are...

  …well, the New Year Fireworks didn’t disappoint! At around 11:15pm, several ships attempted to create a sort of ship’s funnel symphony, which sort of worked, but needs practice (maybe next year), and at midnight, the entire island of Madeira lit up to a magnificent pyrotechnic spectacle, maintaining, in my mind at least, its position as still one of the...

Today, we dropped anchor in Funchal Bay, in Madeira. It being New Year’s Eve, quayside slots come at a premium, and are probably bagged many years in advance. Today, the Oceana, an Aida ship, a Thompson Ship, and the Black Watch had taken prime spaces in the harbour, leaving Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth, Saga Pearl, the Megallan (CMV), another massive Thompson...

Today, we arrived in Santa Cruz, on the island of Tenerife. Once again, we were free of any tour escorting duties (in fact, I believe that’s it for the rest of this cruise), so we were free to do as we wished. It was only a half-day, though, and I had classes in the afternoon, so we opted to take...